“My place of business. My fortress of solitude.” Riker joked as he walked past the central work area into the back where the vault was located.
“Oh, so you’re Superman?” She teased. “Or would that be Superbear…?” Ana trailed off, taking in the scene, and for the first time in his life, Riker felt a little self-conscious about the horrific state of the place.
Oil stains on the ground, loose metal shavings littered everywhere, spare parts and tools lying around, and a thick cloud of dust touching any surface he hadn’t worked on in the past week.
“Yeah, well. It’s a living,” he said flatly, avoiding her gaze, not wanting to see judgment there as he reached the safe embedded into the wall. It was a good vault and stronger than fort Knox, but it still seemed a little diminutive when he stood next to it.
With familiar motions, he undid the lock, opened the door, placed the money in their proper piles, and then was out and shutting the door by the time Ana wandered into the back room where he was.
The gasp she gave out when she came in caught him off guard, and he whirled around before he’d even finished locking the safe.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just… What are those?” she asked, pointing to his work, which was crowded in a corner of the back room.
Riker almost forgot that during the Brawl, he moved all his projects from the front garage into the back, where he could lock them up more securely in case anyone happened to wander into his shop on purpose, looking for something to steal.
And if anyone got a hand on one of his custom motorcycles, they’d be lucky indeed.
Until he broke all their fingers and toes one by one.
“Oh, that. It’s just my day job,” he replied, relieved to know all the fuss was just about his bikes.
“Seriously? When I first came in, I thought this was just an auto body shop or something. But this,” she said, motioning to the array of colored metals, gleaming chrome, clean rubber tires, and shimmering accents, “this is something else altogether.”
Riker couldn’t help but perk up a little bit. At best, his brothers thought his work was amusing. At worst, they’d told him it was downright stupid, locking himself up and working on bikes fifty-one weeks of the year, only emerging to manage the Bear Canyon Brawl.
What was the fancy-ass word Ryland had used to describe it? Plebeian.
But for some reason, none of his projects could lift a candle to the way Ana captivated him. For a long minute, he just watched as she went from bike to bike, looking at some in awe, others in confusion or wonderment, leaning over them and touching the polished surfaces from time to time.
Snap out of it, asshole, Riker had to tell himself to keep from staring. Instead, he turned back to the vault and finished locking it up, not to be opened again until the tournament had ended and the winner was announced.
Somehow, the tournament felt an eternity away right now.
“So do you make these for other people?” Ana asked, breaking the awkward silence.
“It depends. Sometimes I’ll work for rich clients with more money than sense. Other times, I just do it because it keeps my hands busy. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I guess I do. But heaven knows I don’t have anything like this in me just waiting to come out.”
“Different strokes for different folks,” he said, walking over to where she was eyeing one of his favorite works, a bike with blue steel chrome the color of ice with forged metal flames painted in red and orange starting midway and flying off the back. Fire and ice. “Have you ever ridden before?” he asked.
Ana just looked up at him and shook her head. “A few times. I wouldn’t say I’m that adventurous.”
“What? The hiker who stumbled upon a gathering of bears in the middle of nowhere? I’m shocked,” Riker said sarcastically.
“No, really. Even when I’m camping, I’m the type of person who packs two of everything. You never can be too careful,” she said earnestly.
“So how did you end up here? You and the douchebag, I mean,” he said bitterly.
“That’s fair,” she said quietly. “Well, I wanted to take him somewhere remote. We’d been distant lately, and well, I guess it backfired.”
“Why?” Riker asked, surprised by his own curiosity.
“Because I found out he was cheating.” At that, he could see the spark of anger in her eyes, almost as if they were reflecting the chrome flames from the chopper.
“Oh,” Riker said flatly. Just when he thought he couldn’t hate the guy more…
“Yeah, I know. I didn’t even see it coming. Well, things felt off, but he was good to me in other ways. He was nice. Polite. But I guess men just can’t control themselves,” she said bitterly.
“Some men,” Riker replied with a shrug.
At that, Ana turned back to him sharply, her red hair bouncing, green eyes bright in the sun peering through the raised windows of the shop, despite how dusty they were. “That may be the case, but that doesn’t mean I ever have to trust men again. I think yesterday with the bears who attacked me just proves my point even further.”
“Would that be before or after I rescued you?” Riker said with a smirk.
At that, Ana’s anger seemed to deflate a little, and she sat on the thick, padded leather seat of the bike next to her.
Had Rock done that, Riker would have punched his lights out. But somehow, Ana sitting there just felt right.
“You’re right,” she said. “Not every man would do that. But then, it makes me wonder what I did to deserve it.” She looked sad again.
“Look, I’ve been a pretty solitary bear my whole life,” Riker said firmly, moving closer and standing next to her. “But I know one thing for certain. Any man in the world would be insane to not do whatever it takes to keep you. And that bastard who cheated on you? He doesn’t deserve you; that much I know.”
Why couldn’t he make the words stop? Riker wanted to vomit just listening to himself. He could only imagine the unending scorn he’d get from his brothers if they could hear him now.
But sometimes the truth was just the truth, no matter who was saying it.
Ana seemed to perk up a little at that, but she raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “Those are some pretty bold words coming from someone I’ve only known since last night,” she said.
“You’re a fighter. I know that. And you have an open mind, so that’s a point. You’re not intimidated by me or my brothers.”
“All good things, I guess,” Ana said, laughing lightly, a warm, tinkling sound that woke certain parts of himself that had no business getting involved in this.
Mate, Riker could hear the bear inside him growling grumpily, as if awakening out of a slumber.
Riker certainly wasn’t one to ignore his bear. But his bear was talking crazy right now, so he shut it up.
“Okay, Mr. Not-all-men-are-filth, what would you do if you had a girl like me?” Ana asked, her deep green eyes growing serious.
Now that was an unexpected question. He’d have no business being with a girl like her. She deserved a good life, safe in a city somewhere with other humans.
Not a dirty, dangerous existence up here in the mountains, surrounded by shifters once a year and alone with him the rest.
Still, for just a moment, he thought about what it would be like having someone around. Someone he trusted. Someone like her.
It took his breath away and scared him with the intensity of how much he could want it if he allowed himself to.
She was staring up at him, puzzled. Of course she’d have no idea of the things running through his mind. Her challenge had been fair, given his words about her ex.
But he suddenly found himself unable to answer.
The air was heating. The longer she looked at him, the more lost he became. She was waiting for him to speak.
“I…” Riker trailed off, stalling for time. As if he’d be able to pull the right words out of his ass if he
just waited somehow.
But then the door at the front of the shop slammed open, and he heard a pair of footsteps racing inside toward the back.
Saved by the bell. Well, the door in this case.
Riker looked up just in time to see Rock looking harried.
“What’s wrong?” Riker asked, snapping to attention as he felt Ana tense beside him.
“I need you to come with me. We have an emergency.”
On their way to the arena in Rock’s truck, he told them one of the matches had ended violently and the loser was bleeding more than usual.
“It sounds like he needs to get to a hospital,” Ana said as the brothers argued with her in the middle of it.
“No can do, sweetheart.” Rock shook his head.
“It doesn’t work that way,” Riker explained. “We’re shifters for one thing. A human doctor would discover us.”
“Ah,” she said. She was coming to realize it really was a whole different world she was dealing with.
By then, they’d reached the clearing, and the truck pulled up to a small canvas tent, around which a handful of men were circled eagerly to see what was going on inside.
Immediately, Rock hopped out and started yelling at the rubberneckers.
“Clear out, dipshits. I catch you watching anything but the fights and I’ll break your shins!” Ana heard Rock shouting angrily as he dispersed the small crowd around the tent.
“Wait here, okay?” Riker asked. “We’ll be back soon, and you’ll be safer in the truck.”
She nodded, biting her lip as she watched him stride into the tent, trying not to notice the way his strong back and muscled arms tapered down to amazing legs.
A loud groan rent the air, and she snapped back to reality, her head turning in the direction of the tent.
Riker had said to stay there, but she couldn’t in good conscious when she knew she’d be able to help.
She glanced around and then hopped out of the truck, closed the door, and snuck into what she could only assume was the medical tent.
In the center of the tent, Riker and Rock huddled around a man writhing on a stretcher, with Ryland kneeling next to the man cursing.
“Shit. That’s not looking so good,” Riker said to Ryland.
“Where’s the guy who normally does our medical stuff?” Ryland asked.
“He couldn’t make it this year, and I didn’t have time to find a proper shifter replacement. And we don’t usually have injuries a shifter can’t heal from, so I thought we’d be fine,” Riker said, running his hand through his thick hair, making the muscles in his arm bunch.
“Man, your stitching looks like someone trying to crochet without hands,” Rock said, both in worry and amusement as he peered down at his brother’s work.
“Damnit, I’m a venture capitalist, not a doctor!” Ryland shouted out in frustration.
“Well, let me see what I can do,” Riker said, shoving Ryland out of the way and kneeling next to the injured man.
“Wait,” Ana said, wincing inwardly as she walked forward, raising a hand.
All at once, three pairs of stormy gray eyes turned to look at her, and for a moment, she wished she could shrink to the size of a peanut.
“I thought I told you to stay in the car…” Riker said. Ana couldn’t tell if he was angry or happy she was here.
“I think I can help…”
“Really? Help? Look at the guy,” Rock said.
“What do you mean, help?” Riker asked, his eyes narrowing in curiosity.
At that, Ana walked up. The man was in bad shape indeed. His body was pale, his brow covered in sweat. And by the way his eyes rolled back, he was barely conscious.
Methodically, she put her hand to the man’s neck and checked his pulse. Very weak.
“He needs a doctor,” Ana said under her breath, already knowing what the answer would be.
“We already told you we can’t get one,” Rock said.
Riker knelt beside Ana, putting aside his frustration for the task at hand, which she appreciated. “Look, normally, shifters can recover from wounds like this. Terrible wounds, even things like gunshots. But every now and then, a fight goes too far, someone doesn’t stay down, or the animal inside takes over and does too much damage to his opponent.”
“What does he need?” Ana asked.
“He needs to stop bleeding,” Rock said. “But Einstein over there apparently didn’t learn anything useful during six years of school.”
“Business school. I’d like to see you do better.” Ryland challenged, wiping his hands angrily with a wet towel.
“Let me try it,” Ana said, grabbing an unused pair of gloves and slipping them on, then grabbing the suture needle Ryland had started with.
Even though the work Ryland had done was truly quite terrible, he hadn’t gone too far, and he’d started on the right foot by trying to close the wound at one end and working toward the other.
Ana took a long breath, then passed the needle through as quickly as she could. After a few shaky movements, memory took over and it became easy again.
“Holy shit. Look at that!” Rock said in surprise.
“What exactly did you say you do for a living?” Riker said, his astonishment clear despite the fact that most people probably would think he sounded angry.
“I worked with my ex on his career. But before that, I was a nurse in the OR. Operating room.”
Riker cocked his head. “Why did you stop?” he asked, watching as she rhythmically continued her work, a tune from nowhere playing in her head as she did.
“My boyfriend hated the long and irregular hours I worked, so he pressured me to quit,” she replied, feeling Riker’s disapproving glare without even seeing his face. “Honestly, that wasn’t my dream either. I guess I’ll keep figuring that out.”
She decided it was best to change the subject, since any talk of her ex tended to make Riker weirdly angry. “Hey, while I’m doing this, can you guys search the boxes for any anti-hemorrhagic drugs in those kits you have?”
“Anti what?” Rock asked, already heading to the boxes and searching through them for something he didn’t know yet. Riker got up and joined him.
“Just look for anything labelled hemostatic or styptic. Preferably something call Chitosan.”
The brothers got her what she needed, and she went to work on the patient, disappearing to the world in her absolute focus.
When she was done, she was astonished to see the gashes she’d stitched healing beneath her hands.
“Wow, you weren’t joking about shifters healing, were you?” Ana asked, getting up to clean up in a basin.
“Well, yeah, but damn. Not sure that one would have made it without you,” Rock said, scratching the back of his head.
Next to him stood Riker, silently nodding. “We can’t thank you enough.”
“Yeah, you can,” Rock said, nudging his brother. “Take her on a date,” he hissed.
Ana looked over at Riker, curious. As his hot, gray gaze settled on her, she could feel tiny hairs on her arm standing on end.
She felt acutely aware of the warmth of his body close to hers and the definition of his huge muscles beneath the beat-up shirt he wore.
“Would you like that?” Riker asked hesitantly. “I do owe you one.”
She waved a hand. “You don’t owe me anything.” But she would like a date.
He cocked his head, watching her. “Okay. We’ll go tonight, then,” he announced. “Right now, I gotta get back to the fights. The contestants will be waiting for me to make a statement. I’ll see you later.”
A blush moved up her face as he walked out of the tent, Rock close behind.
She turned to Ryland, hoping he didn’t notice her burning cheeks. “Wow.”
Ryland gave her a sarcastic look. “Yeah. Wow.”
She laughed and nudged him in the arm as they walked back to the truck together.
5
Ana dug through her backpack, regretting she h
adn’t packed anything particularly sexy for her camping vacation. Not that she thought anything was going to happen between her and Riker.
No, no matter how much she wanted him, it was clear what was between them was going to stay strictly business.
This was just a friendly dinner between two extremely attracted-to-each-other friends.
She sighed at the ludicrousness of that thought, but then, compared to the overall ridiculousness of the situation she was in, trapped in a little town with a bunch of rabid bear shifters, it wasn’t so bad.
She pulled on a tank top and then a zip-up hoodie in a flattering dark pink. She paired it with skinny jeans that hugged her curvy legs and gray Converse she’d worn on the drive up.
Hopefully she didn’t look too weird. She sat at the desk with the mirror in her room and pulled her hair out of its ponytail. She sighed at how limp it was and went to the bathroom to freshen it up. She put her hands in the running water and scrunched her fingers through her hair, waking up the curls and making them spiral into damp springs that would dry around her face in a flattering way.
There was really no reason to do this, she thought as she put on some soft-pink lip-gloss and pinched her cheeks, then added a bit of mascara for good measure.
But Riker was just that hot. He made a woman want to look good for him, just to keep up.
Satisfied, she took one last look in the mirror and then headed downstairs to see him.
He was speaking to his brothers, as usual, and folding his arms and shaking his head in consternation when she stepped onto the landing.
He raised his head to look up at her, and despite the tiredness lining his face, she saw his expression light up as he saw her. His gray eyes trailed over her, and she tried not to trip as she walked down the stairs, marveling again at how much she felt like an awkward teen on her first date whenever she was around him.
“You look great,” he said, staring openly.
Rock chuckled, and he and Ryland waved and went back to talking, as Riker extended an arm for her to take.
“I can walk just fine,” she said, looking at him.
“We have to get to my truck,” he said. “And I don’t want any shifters getting ideas with you looking like that.”
Sheltered by the Bear (Trapped in Bear Canyon Book 1) Page 4